Their call: How should the Bears handle Tyrique Stevenson's stupid play?

What's more fun than questioning NFL coaches? Nothing, that's something. So let's do it every week, right here. This time, we're going beyond the confines of an NFL game and discussing what happens after the most memorable catch – and most infamous defensive failure – of the NFL season.

The scenario: Two seconds left in the Bears-Commanders game. Washington alone 48. Jayden Daniels takes the snap and sends it high into Maryland from his own 35, and then…well, you know what happens next.

Euphoria! And there was devastation on the Bears sideline. Oh, there's so much to discuss here.

The scenario from the other side: The Daniels-to-Noah Brown Hail Mary only happens if the Bears' defense collapses on multiple fronts, starting with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. In perhaps the greatest case of eff-around-and-find-out — or instant karma, if you will — in NFL history, Stevenson taunted the FedEx Field Commanders fans… and then dumped the ball right into Brown's hands.

I challenge you to rewatch the video as many times as necessary (Washington fans: infinite, Bears fans: 0) to get the point. Stevenson was actually talking nonsense as the piece unfolded. He had his back turned to the receivers! You can see the Bears fans in the crowd telling him to watch out! This picture will be remembered forever:

Why did this happen? The collapse on the Bears side was complete and utter. Let's start with the upfield formation. The Bears push for three, leaving one man to spy on Daniels, which…why? It wasn't that he was trying to get a first down, this was end zone or nothing. Had he gone beyond the line of scrimmage, Daniels would have had to travel 52 yards to score – and if you can't stop a struggling quarterback 52 yards, you've not only earned a loss, you've earned relegation.

Watch everything fall apart at All-22 here:

But then there's the downfield scrum, and that's where the problems really begin. You can never let a man get behind you in the defensive secondary, and yet this is exactly what happened:

The Bears outnumbered Commanders receivers by seven to four – it would have been eight to four if Chicago had returned that spy – and yet everyone had the ball, leaving Brown wide open in the end zone.

On Monday, Bears coach Matt Eberfuls said it was actually Stevenson's job to mark Brown.

Compare this to another potential Hail Mary game-winner from earlier in the day, in which Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield nearly did the impossible:

Tampa Bay's Rakim Jarrett makes the catch but is already out of bounds; The Falcons used the back of the end zone as their de facto defender and had men around Jarrett. There's no guarantee that the Falcons would have defended the Hail Mary if Mayfield had made it about 5 yards shorter, but having defenders close is always a more sensible strategy than leaving a man wide open.

What to do with Stevenson?

Most of the blame, whether justified or not, will fall on Stevenson. As it turns out, it would have been better for the Bears if he had continued to complain instead of interfering in the game and throwing the ball away.

Stevenson apologized on Sunday evening: “I apologize to Chicago and his teammates for their lack of attention and focus. The game is only over when there are zeros on the clock. I can't take anything for granted. Notes taken, improvements will occur. #Beardown.”

Bears captain DJ Moore hinted that steps are being taken. “The captains have talked about how we really need to approach this,” Moore said Monday morning. “I saw he expressed something he was sorry about, but we still need to address it as a leadership group in front of the team.”

Moore did not address the question of punishment. “That’s not our place,” he said. “But as captains we can tackle it and the seniors have to do what they are going to do. That's definitely a lesson learned. He won't do that again. But when you put him on the bench, it’s just that that one play – it’s a big play – but that one play doesn’t define him as a player.”

Stevenson has started 21 of his 22 games in the league and has five interceptions during that span, including a pick-six earlier this season against Tennessee. He has 121 career tackles, 88 of which are solo. And if the Bears are feeling particularly vindictive, he's two years into a four-year, $6.5 million contract that currently carries a dead cap maximum of $2.3 million. Cutting him seems extreme for one bad play…but it was Really bad game.

So. Your call. What are the bears doing now?